THE Nagpur Centre of The Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Nagpur Centre will be hosting the 23rd Mavlankar Memorial Oration on Friday, October 23. One of its flagship annual events and a prestigious platform for architectural thought and discourse. This year’s Oration, titled ‘Safe & Socially Shared Streets for Healthy & Hygienic Neighbourhoods’, will be delivered by Ar. Prasanna Desai of Pune, an architect, urban designer, educator and social advocate known for his work in people-centric urban development.

 

The Oration will be held at Grand Millennium, Hotel Centre Point, Ramdaspeth, at 7:30 pm. The programme traces its origins to 1988, when it was instituted as the Late Architect D. W. Ditchburn Memorial Lecture and inaugurated by renowned architect Kulbhushan Jain. In 1989, it was renamed the Mavlankar Memorial Lecture in memory of Late Ar. Shyam Mavlankar, the founding Chairman of the IIA Nagpur Centre. Recognising its growing stature, the lecture series was elevated to the Mavlankar Memorial Oration in 2002. Over the years, the Oration has featured several distinguished architects and thought leaders, including Nimish Patel, Prem Chandavarkar, Mahendra Raj, Vikas Dilawari, Christopher Benninger, Dean D’Cruz, Sanjay Mohe, P K Das, Raj Rewal, Bimal Patel, Rahul Mehrotra, Neelkanth Chhaya, Yatin Pandya, Naresh Narasimhan and many others. Their contributions have helped establish the Oration as an important forum for engaging with contemporary architectural ideas and practice. Earlier editions of the lecture series also featured prominent personalities such as Uttam Jain, Brinda Somaya, Anant Raje, Madhav Deobhakta, and Jayu and Nachiket Patwardhan. Ar. Prasanna Desai brings extensive professional and academic experience to this year’s Oration. He served as Professor and Director of P. V. P. College of Architecture, Pune, from 2008 to 2026. His work spans affordable housing, neighbourhood planning and the design of safe, accessible and socially vibrant streets. In recognition of his contribution to public utility design, he received the LEXUS Design Award in 2019. Over the years, he has been associated with the design of approximately 100 kilometres of urban streets in cities including Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. His firm is currently involved in street improvement projects for the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (Nagpur Metro).